Family and Matrimonial
-
- Contact us for advice. The most important requirements for adoption are that the adopter must be over 21 years of age, the child to be adopted must be under the age of 18 and that joint applications to adopt can only be made by married couples and civil...
-
- Contact us for advice. Divorce is seldom an easy business, but the problems are compounded when there is a family business involved. The division of the spoils has traditionally been the subject of a great deal of argument, but recent cases have at...
-
- A care order is a court order that places a child under the care of a local council. The local council then shares parental responsibility for the child with the parents and will make most of the important decisions about the child's upbringing, such as...
-
- Arrangements over the custody of children (called residence arrangements by lawyers) after the breakdown of a relationship are usually best decided without the intervention of the court. Unfortunately, it is not always possible for the two parties to agree...
-
- Contact Us On 3 March 2003 new arrangements were introduced that radically altered the way child maintenance is calculated by the Child Support Agency (CSA). Initially, the changes were applied to new cases only. The intention was that existing...
-
- Contact Us The first Civil Partnerships were formed on 21 December 2005, after the Civil Partnerships Act 2005 came into effect on 5 December. The reason for the delay is that the law requires a minimum of 15 days notice of an intending civil...
-
- Contact Us In cases where the provision for an ex-spouse is being decided (which lawyers call ancillary relief ), there can be a settlement leading to a series of payments or there may be a single sum paid when a clean break is wanted. In a recent...
-
- One of the most common myths in English law is that there is such a thing as a common law marriage . It simply doesn t exist and this misapprehension has led the Law Commission to suggest proposals giving additional rights to cohabiting couples. However, a...
-
- Contact Us A lady barrister who broke up with her barrister fiancee was recently awarded the flat they shared and a 25 per cent share of a mill in Sussex despite the fact that both properties had been held in the sole name of her ex-fiancee. Kerry...
-
- In his pre-budget report on 9th October 2007, the Chancellor announced that the law will be changed so that a married couple, or a couple in a Civil Partnership, will in future be given a double Inheritance Tax allowance rather than each spouse or partner...
-
- Approximately one in six marriages in the European Union is between persons of different nationalities. Not surprisingly, approximately one in six divorces also involves spouses of different nationalities. This can make for some complexity on divorce...
-
- When it comes to dealing with money and divorce, it is important to know what has to be taken into account and the powers available to arrive at fair decisions. For most couples, the basic problem is how to finance two separate households from income and...
-
- The most important requirements for adoption are that the adopter must be over 21 years of age, the child to be adopted must be under the age of 18 and that joint applications to adopt can only be made by married couples and civil partners. Unmarried couples...
-
- When you begin living together as a couple, without being married, it is best practice to set up a trust deed to make clear your joint wishes and intentions concerning ownership of the house you live in. Preferably, this should be in association with a ...
-
- The headline-grabbing decisions in a spate of rich list divorce cases in 2007 confirmed that the House of Lords is emphasising that marriage is a partnership and that the relative contributions of the couple to the marriage will be relevant to the...
-
- The 1989 Children Act aimed to clarify the law regarding who could look after children. One of the main new concepts introduced by the Act was that of Parental Responsibility (PR). This is the legal term which emphasises that the duty to care for one's...
-
- More than 40 per cent of marriages end in divorce (in England and Wales some 132,562 couples divorced in 2006) and when one in five of all men and women seeking to end their marriage have already been through one divorce, it is perhaps not surprising that...
-
- Whilst pre-nuptial agreements have been commonplace in the USA for many years, they have not been used in the UK for the simple reason that the courts have refused to enforce them. However, a recent case has caused a reawakening of interest in...
-
- Incidences of school bullying seem to be on the increase and the view is often taken that there is little or nothing that can be done about it. However, a recent case has given new hope to families whose children suffer at the hands of the playground...
-
- We often hear of children being taken into care, but the process by which this occurs is not well known. The Children Act 1989 lays down the circumstances under which it is appropriate for a child to be taken into care or a supervision...
-
- In the April 2003 Budget, the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced the introduction of the Child Trust Fund (CTF). The CTF is a savings and investment account for children. Children born on or after 1 September 2002 are eligible provided they live...
-
- Although divorce is a commonplace occurrence these days, few people going into their first divorce have much idea about how the process operates. Here is a brief guide. The basic requirements for obtaining a divorce in England and Wales are that a...